Question: Val d'Isere, France

[SkiGAP]

Divas,

I am supposed to spend somewhere between 4-7 days at Val d'Isere in early March. I've looked on this site and some of you have skied there.

Is there anything I should know? Any "can't miss" slopes/pistes, parks, vistas/views?

How about apres ski? Any top spots? Any feedback on lodging?

Last, the World Cup just ended there today, so I know there is some great carving to be had (and the BLs will go with me), but is there ample off-piste area to give my Auras some play-time as well? How about moguls?

Yes, yes, I can look on the website, but nothing's better than a Diva review!

 

[lynseyf]

I was in Tignes in December, you will love it!

There is loads of lift served off piste. My boyfriend did an off piste course and was barely on a piste all week. The famous off piste route is the Tour de Charvet. He thought it was pretty easy and he said a lot of it was quite flat, almost a long traverse at times but it was lovely views. If the visibility is bad there are some nice tree runs in La Daille and I think my boyfriend did a lot of off piste here as well. The glacier at Tignes Val Claret is really nice as well and again had a lot of off piste and the red down to the bottom is really nice if you like wide cruisy pistes.

Coming from the UK, Tignes was really expensive :mad: We were in a catered chalet so only ate out one night, 2 burgers a bottle of wine and a chocolate cake cost us €50, a hot chocolate was about €3.50, chips or soup €7 and a bowl of pasta or tartiflette about €12-15. We only went to a bar one night and it was €7 for a vodka and orange but we are getting a really bad exchange rate just now so these prices work out really expensive.

Hope this helps, any other questions just ask, one of my friends is just back from there last week and she had a picture of her standing in the road and the drifts at the side of the road were 7ft high!

 

[LilaBear]

Val D'Isere will have a high proportion of British Skiers there which usually means some active apres ski. It's a while since I last skied there, but I remember Dick's Tea Bar as being a popular place for fancy vodkas. It's a small enough town center that you can walk around and find everything easily. From totally upmarket (& pricey) to pubs and bars.

You could contact the Ski Club of Great Britain, they have reps out there who will lead ski groups into more challenging terrain, and they provide lots of general advice about resorts and conditions. You may have to become a member to participate.